Saffron
It is one of the species most appreciated by cooks, although its price means that it is sold at a trickle, a true culinary treasure that is sold in small doses, as if they were valuable jewels to give flavor to dishes, in addition to having many other interesting properties. They are small strands that, in truth, with a small amount manage to leave their magic on each food. However, it must also be said that, due to its high price, sometimes what is sold to us as saffron is actually not. We tell you all the curiosities about saffron, so you know what it is, how to use it, how to recognize it and what having it at home gives you.
Given what we just told you regarding your price and properties, saffron is considered almost like “red gold”. And it has been highly valued, as an authentic jewel throughout time and by different cultures, because this peculiar and wonderful spice has been used for a long time. since ancient times.
You will surely have licked your fingers with a delicious paella, because this condiment is widely used to flavor rice, apart from being added to meat recipes and even desserts. Always in very very small quantities, but enough to give them flavor. Let's learn more about this wonderful kitchen ingredient, which should not be missing in your medicine cabinet, and also discover about its cultivation.
What is saffron
Saffron is nothing other than dried stigmas of the pistil of a flower. Specifically, the flower Crocus sativus. This flower stands out for its beauty, with beautiful colors in lilac tones, yellow stamens and intense red stigmas. It is a wild flower native to the East whose cultivation dates back to very ancient times, even before Christ.
Has a bitter taste and a very intense aroma, thanks to the components it contains, which are the safranal and picrocrocin. In addition to its flavor and aroma, saffron stands out for providing color, a strong yellow tone that leaves its mark and is due to crocin, a carotenoid. So far, the qualities that this species gives to dishes in the kitchen: flavor, smell and color. But it is not only used in the kitchen, as we will see later, but also saffron has multiple uses and benefits.
Why is saffron so expensive?
Knowing that saffron is the three stigmas of the pistil of a flower, you must already be imagining how difficult it is to obtain this condiment. It takes a large amount of flowers to get just a few grams. Let's say that with 1 kilo of these flowers, only some are obtained 10 grams of saffron. One of the saffron curiosities that is most difficult for the consumer to assimilate.
To all this we must add the investment and work involved in growing your flowers and that it is not a crop that is produced throughout the year, but rather has periods of obligatory rest. Thus, the production of saffron is very low in relation to its demand.
In addition, The extraction of pure saffron or stigmas is done manually. Machines cannot be used for this. With all the care and delicacy in the world, the saffron workers have to pick the flower and carefully tear off each stigma, preventing it from breaking.
But the thing does not end here. There is one more detail that makes saffron very special, and that is that its flower blooms at dawn and must be picked quickly because it barely survives a single day without wilting.
How saffron is grown
Saffron is grown by planting a bulb or mother onion and, later, their bulbs are planted. These bulbs are the ones you will have to buy if you want to grow saffron. And this species it has no seeds, so we cannot resort to seeds for sowing.
Be careful with this because you may find seeds to grow spices in a garden store and they will try to confuse you. You have to know that there is another similar spice that is sometimes even used to mix with saffron and adulterate it. It's about turmeric. This can be a substitute in the kitchen if we do not have saffron at our disposal, but they are not the same thing and, therefore, neither is the price. Be clear about the differences and don't be fooled.
A saffron with 6 pistils?
We have been repeating throughout the text that the saffron flower has three pistils. But another of the curiosities about saffron What is worth knowing is that sometimes nature surprises us by giving us a flower with 6 pistils. In this case, it is considered that whoever finds it came across the good luck This wonder of nature is called melguiza.
It is also grown in Spain
Although the origin of saffron is found in India, its cultivation has since spread to other countries. Currently, Iran is the main exporter, but Spain It also stands out for producing specimens of longer and drier filaments that tear off more easily. Different locations of Castilla la Mancha They are dedicated to its cultivation.
Saffron, valued since ancient times
Before Christ, saffron was already collected for multiple uses. In Egypt, the pharaohs used saffron for baths, so that they were aromatic and relaxing. On the other hand, the Arabs took advantage of its medicinal properties. While the Greeks used it to dye their royal clothing.
Curiosities about saffron and its uses today
Saffron is currently used in cooking to prepare different recipes. But it is also used in natural medicine to combat stress, anxiety, insomnia and depression.
On the other hand, the cosmetics sector is another that has known in depth the virtues of this product and uses it to make anti-wrinkle, anti-blemish creams and in luxury cosmetics. The pioneer in this sense was Cleopatra, who bathed in donkey's milk, as they say, but also added saffron flowers to have more hydrated and soft skin, without forgetting the aromatic bath with the intense smell of this condiment.
Knowing these curiosities about saffron, you know that if you want grow saffron at home, you need to get their bulbs. Plant them at the end of March and make sure they have good drainage, because they need moisture but without excess. Take care of her from the cold. And when the flowers sprout, you can remove their pistils and store them in your pantry.